The Witcher 4: 10 Ways To Blow Wild Hunt Out Of The Water

6. Stagger The Size Of The World & Things To Do - Establish Progression Across Runtime

Whilst I had no issue diving in with two feet and learning to swim, a good handful of negativity surrounding Wild Hunt came from it being simply too big. Where in Witcher 1 and 2, we oscillated between plot-driven sections, sizeable 'mini open-worlds' and larger expanses where you were free to accept side-quests, Wild Hunt gave you the entire game world within the first 10 minutes.

Such a decision worked wonders for longtime fans as we felt the contrasting benefit to these past titles, but it had the knock-on effect of being overwhelming to newcomers.

As as a somewhat weird comparison, something like Persona 5 takes you by the hand initially, before very slowly opening up the entire game world, expanding your options and the set of characters therein. Seriously, it's not until you're a good 40 hours in that everything truly opens up.

A Witcher 4 might lose something by being quite so restrictive, but there's something to be said for a game world that fully 'unlocks' over the course of its entire runtime, or at key points in the story.

Remember unlocking the islands in GTA III, how rewarding that felt? Staggering the amount of quests, characters, expanses to explore and question marks to hoover up in a more deliberate fashion might just pay dividends in the long run.